Argentinean painter, poet, inventor, and esoteric thinker Alejandro Schulz Solari began studying architecture in 1906, but he later abandoned this vocation to study music, theater, and especially philosophy. He dedicated himself to the learning of several languages, as well as the history of art, the kabbalah, and astrology. All of these subjects influenced his visual-art production, and his study of the occult, in particular, led him to change his name to Xul Solar, an approximate anagram of lux solaris.

Xul developed a style of painting based on his metaphysical beliefs, which incorporated abstractionist tendencies, geometric figures, and linguistic-visual collages. His watercolors, such as Jefa, exemplify the unique visual language he created, immersed in a world of universal and philosophical scope. Here, the cat-like central figure is layered with Xul´s symbols culled from Egyptian, Asian, and Pre-Columbian sources and labeled with the word jefa, or patroness.